The sun-dried seed pod of a type of climbing orchid, vanilla has an inimitable soft, sweet…

Method

First get your moulds ready. Using upward strokes, heavily brush the melted butter all over the inside of the pudding mould. Place the mould in the fridge or freezer. Brush more melted butter over the chilled butter, then add a good spoonful of cocoa powder into the mould. Tip the mould so the powder completely coats the butter. Tap any excess cocoa back into the jar, then repeat with 1 the next mould.

Place a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, then slowly melt the chocolate and butter together. Remove bowl from the heat and stir until smooth. Leave to cool for about 10 mins.

In a separate bowl whisk the eggs and yolks together with the sugar until thick and pale and the whisk leaves a trail; use an electric whisk if you want. Sift the flour into the eggs, then beat together.

Pour the melted chocolate into the egg mixture in thirds, beating well between each addition, until all the chocolate is added and the mixture is completely combined to a loose cake batter.

Tip the fondant batter into a jug, then evenly divide between the moulds. The fondants can now be frozen for up to a month and cooked from frozen. Chill for at least 20 mins or up to the night before. To bake from frozen, simply carry on as stated, adding 5 mins more to the cooking time.

Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Place the fondants on a baking tray, then cook for 10-12 mins until the tops have formed a crust and they are starting to come away from the sides of their moulds. Remove from the oven, then leave to sit for 1 min before turning out.

Loosen the fondants by moving the tops very gently so they come away from the sides, easing them out of the moulds. Tip each fondant slightly onto your hand so you know it has come away, then tip back into the mould ready to plate up.

Starting from the middle of each plate, squeeze a spiral of caramel sauce – do all the plates you need before you go on to the next stage.

Sit a fondant in the middle of each plate. Using a large spoon dipped in hot water, scoop a ‘quenelle’ of ice cream.

Carefully place the ice cream on top of the fondant, then serve immediately. Repeat with the rest of the fondants.

Recipe Tip

9 puddings for 8 guests

If you are making the fondants for a dinner party I would
advise you cook one extra as an
‘insurance policy’ that you can test
for doneness. If everything goes
according to plan I’m sure there will
be no shortage of guests wanting
second helpings.

Recipe Tip

Variations

Once you have mastered the
fondants it’s very easy to adapt their
flavour. For a boozy version add
a generous splash of Baileys to the
melted chocolate. You can also make
a chocolate and orange version
by adding the finely grated zest of
1 large orange and an optional
splash of orange liqueur.

Recipe Tip

Tins or ramekins?

As we make the fondants in such
great volumes in my restaurants we
use disposable 150ml aluminium
muffin tins, but ramekins work just as
well. The cooking times I have given
here are for ramekins but if you want
to use the muffin tins then 10 mins in
the oven will be fine.

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Comments, questions and tips

Great recipe, I've tried out many chocolate fondant recipes and found this one to be the best. Really rich so I'd advise halving the mixture unless you've either got guests round or want to go into a chocolate coma ( in a good way though! ). Vanilla ice cream is brilliant with this pudding as it cuts through the richness nicely. This is by far a chocoholic's idea of paradise, delicious!

Lennylenny

10th Aug, 2017

5.05

Great foolproof recipe, turned out exactly as expected . I added a dark chocolate truffle ( any dark chocolate would do) in the middle of the batter after pouring it into the mold, and that gave it just that extra chocolaty gooey flavor!

naomibrook01

9th Aug, 2017

5.05

Halved, but otherwise followed to the letter. was perfect! Will try with orange flavours added next time...

Fifi88

10th May, 2017

2.55

I made these and it is a good recipe, which turned out well. However, they did not really 'wow' me as I did not find them intensely chocolately enough - more cakey. In the quest for the perfect chocolate fondant I tried Nigella's molten babycakes recipe, which had a lot more chocolate, less flour and fewer eggs and I found these to be vastly superior. So if you're after more of a chocolate hit, try Nigella.

laura0606

15th Apr, 2017

3.8

This was my first go at making chocolate fondants and it couldn't really have been easier! I do not have any proper pudding moulds so I used ramekins and was worried they would not turn out and the final result would be ruined but luckily with a good amount of cocoa powder to line the ramekins, they turned out perfectly. Will make again. Also great idea to keep them in the freezer for when I'm craving chocolate or as a last minute dessert!

smile89

8th Apr, 2017

5.05

First attempt at making chocolate fondant. I was pleased with the result and the instructions were clear to follow. If I was to make this again, I would make sure I had very strong dark chocolate (85%+ cocoa) to give it more flavour. Other than that I'm very pleased, it was scrummy!

kllk_2017

19th Mar, 2017

May be a silly question - but does the liquid chocolate in the middle not contain raw egg?!

vonniemarie

29th Jan, 2017

5.05

Perfect, I made these today, for the first time, they were simple to make,
and they turned out of the ramekin dishes perfectly, they went down a storm with my family. I made according to the above recipe, and I seem to have enough over for at least another 2 or even 3, my ramekins must be small or something.?
I will be making these again, I'm so please with how they turned out.

anna2705

16th Jan, 2017

5.05

Made these for a dinner party at the weekend and they came out perfect. Followed the recipe exactly and worked first time. Now have four in the freezer to look forward to! Highly recommend.

Pages

Do you think this could be cooked as one big fondant as opposed to separate ramekins? Thanks

goodfoodteam

20th Dec, 2016

Thank you for your question. We have not tested it as one big fondant and as cooking times need to be precise to get the molten centre, we'd suggest making this in individual portions.

C290264

11th Dec, 2016

To anyone. Can someone tell me how I can make the chocolate fondants but adding in an orange syrup so it flows out like lave? Cheers.

laura0606

15th Apr, 2017

3.8

You'd need to make something like an orange flavoured disc, freeze it and then place in the middle of the fondant, then pour some more of the mixture over the top to cover it. then it should stay in the correct position and melt out when you cut into it.

Vyra

27th Sep, 2016

The recipe mentions 200 gm of flour...isn't it too much. Sorry I'm a novice...I referred similar recipes and they mostly mentioned just 1 tbsp of flour. Just wanted to confirm with you if 200 g mentioned was accurate.

choca

8th Jun, 2016

Can the fondants be baked straight from the fridge or should they be at room temp?

danik

17th Jul, 2015

When it says 4 eggs and 4 yolks does that mean 8 in total, 4 normal eggs and 4 with no whites?

kateparkin21

1st Jun, 2014

Has anyone adapted this recipe and used white chocolate??
I've made a similar chocolate fondant in a ramekin but then the recipe was deleted from binder as the licence expired and I never wrote it down, now I have friends request my chocolate pots but with white chocolate for my next dinner party.

bilkis3010

27th Nov, 2013

How many people does this recipe serve?

MummyAbey

8th Aug, 2014

5.05

Grated some orange peel in the mixture to make chocolate orange fondants. Delicious!

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